Philadelphia $120 Million Tech Upgrade Begins

Eight of Philadelphia's major city IT systems will be upgraded once the city decides where to spend the money.

Philadelphia opened the doors for vendors to submit ideas for the city's six-year, $120 million IT upgrade. The project, which was announced under previous city CIO Allan Frank in 2010, will upgrade eight main city IT systems.

“So anyone out there who's been waiting for an opportunity to participate, this is it,” city CIO Adel Ebeid said, reported TechnicallyPhilly.com. “We’re not going to have this chance again.”

Among the systems to be upgraded are the licenses and permits system, cashiering, property data and computer aided mass appraisal (CAMA), workforce management, 311, inmate management, revenue, and parole and arraignment system (PARS.)

The city has released request for proposal (RFP) forms for overall planning, licenses and inspections, and cashiering. An RFP for 311 will be released next and work on cashiering and 311 systems will occur next year, Ebeid said. If a majority of the upgrades are completed in the next three years, the project will be considered a success, he added.